A study of the making of reliquaries from the earliest days of Christianity to the apogee of the practice in the 16th century, this book considers the importance of reliquaries and related Christian art as markers of the divine in both Eastern Christianity (Byzantium) and Western Christendom. An international group of scholars explores how medieval artists used earthly materials to house and convey sacred objects, and sheds fascinating new light on 140 extraordinary and rare reliquaries.

Treasures of Heaven is the catalog for a traveling exhibition which brings together objects of unequivocal beauty which express the rich tradition of relic veneration and presentation in the Christian church.